Baseball Hall of Fame game to end after this year

Wednesday

Jan 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMJan 30, 2008 at 2:45 AM

COOPERSTOWN – The Baseball Hall of Fame’s business is the celebration of baseball. Tuesday, however, Major League Baseball gave Cooperstown one less reason to celebrate when it announced the end of the annual Hall of Fame Game.

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CRAIG MUDER

COOPERSTOWN – The Baseball Hall of Fame’s business is the celebration of baseball.

On Tuesday, however, Major League Baseball gave Cooperstown one less reason to celebrate when it announced the end of the annual Hall of Fame Game.
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The 2008 Hall of Fame Game, which features the Chicago Cubs vs. the San Diego Padres, will be played June 16 at Doubleday Field. It will mark the 69th and final scheduled game of the series which started in 1940. Ironically, the Cubs played in that first Hall of Fame Game, beating the Red Sox 10-9.

“We’ve been holding on by our fingers for years,” said Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey of baseball’s only in-season exhibition game. “The scheduling is what makes it so difficult.

“Major League Baseball has been very good to us, but I’m not happy about it. I’m sad about it. We’re sad that it’s going away,” he said.

Other area fans expressed their anger at Major League Baseball for taking away one of Cooperstown’s gems.

“I think the players association is thumbing their nose at Cooperstown,” said Clinton High School principal Dick Hunt, who attended his first Hall of Fame Game in 1957 and has been to more than 20 since. “The people who are supposed to be the custodians of the game have abdicated their responsibility.

“It’s a sad, sad commentary on the strength of the players association. I would bet that this is where this decision is being made,” he said.

Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy said in a statement that the complexity of the schedule has made the game “increasingly difficult.” The complexities include union roles – negotiated into the 2002 collective bargaining agreement with the owners – that ultimately might have forced baseball’s decision.

“You had to have two teams who haven’t played here in the last five years, both which played east of the Mississippi the day before the game and both willing to give up an off day,” said Jeff Idelson, Hall of Fame vice president of communications and education. “It was purely a logistical nightmare.”

The ripple-effect
The loss of the game might not be a nightmare for Cooperstown businesses, but it is bound to take a bite out of profits. Since the Fame Game was moved away from Hall of Fame Weekend in 2003, the Hall and surrounding businesses have enjoyed a tourism bump thanks to the 10,000-plus fans that come to Cooperstown for the Game.

Also affected are several local organizations who use Hall of Fame activities as fundraisers, including Cooperstown Central School.

John Bullis, the executive director of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber and the Hall will work together to create other attractions for baseball fans.

“The Hall of Fame Game has been a staple in Cooperstown for almost 70 years, but this is a chance for us to find other ways to celebrate baseball,” said Bullis, who said games featuring college teams or national clubs from Japan or Korea could be scheduled at Doubleday Field.

“We think the majority of the people at the Hall of Fame Game were from Central New York, so the tourism hit might not be that big,” he said.

This year’s game
Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame is giving special preference to local Fame Game fans this year. Tickets will go on sale at the Hall at 10 a.m. March 8, and Hall of Fame members can purchase tickets by phone March 8 through March 14. If any tickets remain, they will be sold to the general public by phone starting March 17 at 1-888-HALL-OF-FAME.

Petroskey did not rule out the Hall of Fame Game returning at some future date, but acknowledged that circumstances in the game’s structure would have to change radically.

“Major League Baseball has been going out on a limb to keep this game going, and Major League Baseball has been very supportive of the Hall of Fame,” Petroskey said. “But things evolve.

“Some people would like things go to back to the way they were 50 years ago in baseball. But anyone who thinks baseball is not better today than it was decades ago is fooling themselves.”